Mary Jane Ballou
Harpist • Arranger • Performer

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Music by Mary Jane Ballou

Mary Jane Ballou is the founding director of Cantorae St. Augustine and an expert on sacred music and Gregorian chant, with a doctorate in sacred music. A resource for choirs and singers looking to expand their horizons. An engaging and experienced director, workshop leader, and performer. A writer, blogger, and researcher on the world of a cappella sacred music in the Western and Eastern churches. A freelance harpist specializing in Renaissance and Celtic music for concerts and special programming and producer of albums for harp. Her arrangements of music for harp and for a cappella women’s voices will soon be available on this site as well.

As a performing musician, Dr. Ballou presents programs that weave the music of Spain, the New World, and the Celts into stories of love, faith, and courage – with a good dose of humor thrown in. She has produced two CDs of harp music and regularly appears in concert and festival settings in northeast Florida. Recent concerts included “The Colonial Harpist” and “Irish in a Spanish Town,” which reflect the diversity of early Spanish Florida.

When I was growing up (and then some), I was always on the look-out for omens. Seeing a particular kind of bird, being struck with the way autumn light looked on a wall, finding money on the sidewalk – you name it, I thought it might mean more than it seemed. I thought I’d completely […]
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The following is taken from “The Wisdom of Group Deicision by Craig Freshly via the Co-Housing Newsletter (and no I don’t live in a co-housing community, I’ve just gotten the newsletter since forever). What do to when someone else in the meeting is talking: “Bite your tongue. Cool your jets. To listen, […]
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